BWWC Photography Competition 2009

Thank you to all of you who entered the 2009 BWWC Photography Competition. We've received some fantastic entries and the winners will be announced in the near future. For those of you who've stayed with us since the 16th of January this year, why not enter the 2010 competition? Full details will be up on the BWWC website shortly! For now I'll leave you with a lovely Badger shot - an entry for the 2008 competition taken by Paul Withers.

The Horse of the Woods

Here at the Grant Arms Hotel, we are lucky to be only a few minutes walk from the beautiful Anagach Woods. This area of Caledonian Pine Forest is home to many species of birdlife, as well as a variety of mammals. One of the birds often sought after by our guests is the spectacular Capercaillie - the 'horse of the woods.'
Two of our guests recently set out to enjoy a spot of bird watching in Anagach and it can definitely be said that their luck was in that day! They didn't just spot one Capercaillie - which let's be honest would make most people's day - they saw five! I think that has to be a BWWC record and I was definitely a little green with envy when they told me! They were lucky enough to see three females and two males as they wandered around the woods. Let's hope that this winter brings many more sightings of the elusive Capercaillie.


Capercaillie photograph © Laurie Campbell
Check out some more of Laurie's fantastic photographs on his website: www.lauriecampbell.com

Spring with Simon King!

The BWWC are proud (and very excited!) to be running a holiday in April 2010 with Simon King. The holiday 'Wonders of the Cairngorms' will run from 11th April - 18th April 2010 at the Grant Arms Hotel in Grantown-on-Spey. Simon King will be joining the BWWC Team at the Grant Arms Hotel from Sunday 11th April - Wednesday 14th April.

Each guest will get several opportunities to personally meet with or hear Simon King talk. Simon will be leading walks in the local Anagach Woods looking for birds and wildlife. Guests will be invited to attend three trips around the local area with Simon, looking for wildlife. One of these trips will be to the famous Chanonry Point in search of Bottlenose Dolphins! Simon will also be giving a talk at the Grant Arms Hotel and in attendance at our Gala Dinner before his departure.

Guests are free to do as they wish after the Wednesday 14th April but a full programme of events and entertainment will be provided by the BWWC Team, including evening talks by guest speakers.

All guests will receive a free BWWC Map and Guide and have access to the BWWC Club Room, natural history library and lecture theatre within the Grant Arms Hotel. The BWWC Team will be on hand all week to provide wildlife briefings and information about the surrounding area and wildlife hotspots.

At this time of year, guests would have a good chance of seeing:

Capercaillie Lekking at RSPB Loch Garten.
Black Grouse Lek in Abernethy Forest and Glenlivet Estate.
Slavonian Grebe ‘ weed rush dance’ at RSPB Loch Ruthven.
Ospreys at RSPB Loch Garten.
Breeding Peregrines at the Forestry Commission Centre in Huntly.

As well as many other species such as Red Deer, Mountain Hare, Red Squirrel, Red Grouse, Black and Red Throated Divers, Golden Eagles, Hen Harriers, Buzzards, Crested Tits and Scottish Crossbills.

The price is £695pp based on two people sharing a twin/double room and is on a Dinner, Bed & Breakfast basis. If you're interested in spending Spring with Simon King and want some more information, feel free to contact me: info@bwwc.co.uk

I can't wait - the wildlife watching opportunities will be excellent and we've lots of events planned for the whole week...bring on Spring!

Kirsty (BWWC Programme Organiser)

Osprey and Capercaillie photos ©Laurie Campbell.

A Fungi Few Days

Here at the BWWC we were fortunate to have a fungi expert in our midsts recently. Sam Ranscombe joined us to give a talk on the Fungi of Speyside, followed by a Fungi Foray the next morning in our local Anagach Woods. We were certainly not short of fungi to look at. The woods are full of colourful and oddly shaped mushrooms at the moment - some with the telltale nibble marks of hungry Red Squirrels!

Our guests enjoyed learning about the many varieties of fungi to be found here in the Highlands. I certainly learnt a lot - I knew that there were many species of fungi but I hadn't realised just quite how many we had on our doorstep! I'm determined to learn more about the common ones we find here but I certainly won't be eating anything other than Chanterelles...there are too many dangerous lookalikes for my liking!

September's Wildlife Hotspots

Here at the BWWC we are fortunate to have the author of the fabulous book "Best Birdwatching Sites in the Scottish Highlands," Gordon Hamlett, paying us a visit later this month. Gordon will be leading our guests on a wildlife watching tour of Findhorn Valley and Loch Ruthven on Sunday 20th September. Gordon will also be giving a talk on the best birding areas of Scotland that evening, based on the advice and information found in his book.

For those of you not lucky enough to be staying with us on this occasion, here are Gordon's top tips for a successful September of birdwatching in Scotland:

"Seabirds and raptors dominate this month. Sea-watching is always considered one of the dark arts of bird-watching but with the right conditions, you can expect to see good numbers of terns, auks, Gannets, skuas, shearwaters, petrels (more on the west coast), gulls, divers, seaducks and waders.

Chanonry Point on the Black Isle is famous for watching bottlenose dolphins close up but get the weather right (strong winds in the north and east) and you can expect some spectacular sea passage too as birds get forced through the channel between Chanonry and Fort George on the opposite shore.

With the wind in the north and west, visit headlands on the west coast such as Ardnamurchan Point or Point of Stoer at Inverpolly. Another alternative is to take a non-landing ferry trip from Ullapool, across the Minch to Lewis, sea-watching all the way there and back. We tried a similar trip from Uig on Skye to Harris a couple of autumns ago and on a day when the sea was like a millpond, clocked up a minimum count of a quarter of a million seabirds. Spectacular stuff indeed!

Young eagles are on the wing and you can often see family parties flying together - I can remember watching five Golden Eagles and 14 Buzzards soaring in the same thermal at Dunvegan on Skye. Gruinard Bay or the new hide at Inverewe Gardens can produce sightings of White-tailed Eagle. Most valleys hold a pair of Golden Eagles.
Findhorn Valley is the favourite spot for birders but try also Glens Roy, Affric, Cannich and Strathfarrar. Strathconon can easily be combined with a trip to Chanonry Point."

A big thank you to Gordon for that info - and I'm sure the guests staying with us this week aren't disagreeing with him...This week we've had fabulous sightings of Dolphins and Seabirds at Chanonry Point, as well as Buzzards, Kestrels, Peregrines, Wheatear, Dipper, Hen Harrier, Grey Wagtail, Wild Goats, Salmon leaping and hundreds of Red Deer in Findhorn Valley! As you can see from the photo - Findhorn Valley is beautiful both in terms of scenery and wildlife.

Rutland Birdfair and beyond...

Please excuse the pun but doesn't time fly?!

I can't believe it's been over a fortnight since the Birdfair! The BWWC had a fantastic weekend and were really pleased to see some of our previous guests there. We look forward to seeing those of you who booked with us at the Birdfair again in the near future. I've been busy with lots of enquiries from people who visited us at our stand and am also pleased to say that our lucky competition winner from our Birdfair Prize Draw will be arriving for a complimentary week with us at the Grant Arms Hotel very soon!

So now it's all over and back to normal: helping the guests with their enquiries at our evening Briefings, getting ready to learn about the fungi of Speyside with our guest expert who's visiting over the next couple of days, leading some of our guided walks, planning our Special Events for next year and pulling together information for The Watcher. It's a busy job but somebody's got to do it...and I'm very happy that the somebody is me!

Bye for now,

Kirsty Sharratt.

(Programme Organiser)

A new face...

Hello! Sorry for the lack of blogging from the BWWC. My name's Kirsty Sharratt, I joined the BWWC Team in June when Toby moved on to pastures new. It's great to be involved in such an interesting and original idea: allowing our guests to do their own thing on a wildlife-watching holiday, but giving them all the information and assistance they might require to make the most of their time with us. There's so much to see and do in the Cairngorms area and it's all on our doorstep here at the Grant Arms Hotel!

To find out more about the hotel owner and man responsible for the BWWC concept, John Woods, or the resident BWWC Team; Pam Baird (BWWC Co-ordinator) and myself, check out the 'About Us' tab and go to 'The Team.'

As always, if you're considering a visit and want some information on the area, the wildlife or the hotel itself, don't hesitate to get in touch: info@bwwc.co.uk

For now enjoy looking at this picture of one of the locals...